Mary Modeen is an artist/academic whose research links creative practice with interdisciplinary academic studies in the humanities, particularly philosophy, literature, feminist and indigenous studies. Her research has several threads: perception as a cognitive and interpretive process, and place-based research, which tends to connect cultural values, history and embodied experience. As such, this work usually combines creative art practice and writing.
Her PhD supervision is also characterised by these interdisciplinary investigations, linking studio practice with academic enquiry. International research networks, three of which Modeen co-convenes, are central in conducting the critical discourse which address, challenge and strengthen these research insights. She is also the DJCAD Associate Dean (Internationalisation).
Mary
Modeen
detail of Circulation, 2026
A multi-media installation emerging from a long-term engagement with bogs and wetlands.
Round and round it goes; inhale, exhale, water in, water out. Sunrise, sunset, stars, seasons, cherry blossoms and falling leaves. You hear swish, swish at night as you lay on your side, legs curled, your ear on the pillow. Spring rain has brought the first bluebells. In a daydream, your thoughts circle round the question that keeps recurring. Yesterday, you sat too long at your desk and your leg ‘fell asleep’ but not really sleep. Sphagnum moss sits atop its ancestors as peat. The river is in spate.
Circulation, 2026
Water, reclaimed sandstone with calcareous inclusions, sphagnum moss, peat, pond liner, felt underlayment, steel armature, tree branches, vinyl hoses, paper clay ceramic vessels, fibre twine, dowels, tarpaulin, electric water pump, varnish. 2m X 2m.
Acknowledgements:
Genevieve Sawyer Males
Ewan Allinson
Louise Ritchie
P&G Blacksmiths, Dundee and Gary Clark
Craig and Robyn Clark, West Pittendreich Farm, Brechin, Angus
Leonie Siri Macmillan
Astrid Leeson
Jonny Fenwick
Bruce Shaw
Paola McClure
Leena Nammari
Video by Alan Richardson
Circulation
